Email:smccauley@mondotunes.comWebsite:http://www.mondotunes.comWayne Moniz, award-winning Maui Island author and playwright, has released a collection of his newest stories titled Under Maui Skies in audiobook format. The stories are written and narrated by Moniz, himself, who Maui News has knighted as “The Dean of Maui Playwrights.” Maui's rich history and culture are both the inspiration for and foundation of these original tales.

The collection is comprised of seven stories from an impressively wide variety of genres (Western, Adventure, War, Romance, Detective, Horror, Science Fiction) and also includes “Kaona,” a poem exemplifying the style of Hawaiian metaphorical poetry that is culturally indigenous to the islands. As further proof of Moniz's comprehensive capabilities, these stories also have temporal settings that range from 1690, previous to Hawaii's contact with the mainland, to 1963, when western pop culture's interest in the islands was reaching mania.

The narration of the author is one of the audiobook's chief charms. Moniz's fresh voice and cadence captures the flavor of the islands and that of their history. He has said that he writes about his homeland to "preserve the memory of a time that is slipping away, and to encourage action to protect Hawai'i's unique land and culture."

The San Francisco Chronicle has called Moniz's Under Maui Skies “One of the most engaging works of fiction to come out of Hawai’i in a long while.” The Maui Time Weekly said of it, “Wayne Moniz brings Maui’s past life to life.”

Wayne Moniz received a B.A. in English and Communications from the University of Dayton, Ohio and an M.A. in Theater Arts and Film from UCLA. He was the recipient of the Cades Award, Hawaii’s most prestigious writing prize, in 2005. In 2010, he was awarded the Ka Palapala Po`okela Readers’ Choice Book of the Year by the Hawai`i Book Publishers Association for this title, Under Maui Skies.

The audiobook Under Maui Skies is available online everywhere beginning New Years Day, 2013.

-S. McCauley
Staff Press Release Writer
MondoTunes

The audiobook “Under Maui Skies” is distributed globally by MondoTunes (www.MondoTunes.com) and is available at iTunes for convenient purchase and download

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